Ukrainian Armed Forces break through first line of Russian defense, can manoeuvre equipment and troops

Oleksandr Stupun, spokesman for the joint press centre of the Tauride Defense Forces, shared the statement with Suspilne.

"The Russian enemy has allocated resources. If we count three lines as 100%, it is 60-20-20. That is, the first line of defense was densely mined, with concrete fortifications and a large number of anti-tank weapons. The second line also cannot be dismissed and said to be different. There are also quite powerful fortifications here, quite competently constructed, but here we have the opportunity to maneuver equipment and troops," he commented.

The spokesman said that the second line of defense has fewer minefields than the first line of defense, "but do not think it will be easy to take them."

Ukrainian soldiers cleared the first line of defense manually, "because the enemy took any equipment in their sights and tried to destroy it. That's why we had to withdraw it."

He said that the demining of the second line of defense of Russian occupiers will be comprehensive, because now the Armed Forces have the opportunity to cover the infantry.

"On the first line of defense, we were breaking through a narrow path, and the equipment and infantry could not go either left or right because there was a dense minefield. Here we entered the territory where we can maneuver and the enemy will also have to act somehow," explained Stupun.

Actions of the Russian forces

Oleksandr Stupun said that the Russians are engaging their reserves and airborne units in defense.

"Russia is acting, it continues to bury itself, to pull up its reserves. The quality of those reserves is not so good, they are a little less. But now the enemy has begun to use airborne units in defense, which is not typical for them. Because, as the Russians say, it is their elite that counts, so if they are already using their so-called elite in defensive battles, then something is wrong with them," he said.

Russia's actions in the Zaporizhzhia sector

"The day before yesterday, the enemy tried to conduct a head-on offensive in Maryinka, but it failed. Now the enemy is trying to break through to the north and south. These are Novomykhailivka and Krasnohorivka, active hostilities are also taking place in the area of Robotyne," said the spokesman of the joint press center of the Tauride Defense Forces.

The situation in the direction of Verbove

Stupun said that Ukrainian troops are gaining ground in the direction of Verbove, conducting a powerful counter-battery fight, trying to destroy Russian artillery and disrupt their logistics, and systematic destruction of field ammunition depots continues.

• Ukrainian troops have decisively broken through Russia's first line of defence near Zaporizhzhia after weeks of painstaking demining, and expect more success as they press on to the weaker second line, Brigadier General Oleksandr Tarnavsky, who is leading the southern counteroffensive, told The Guardian.